PREFACE
The polychaete fauna of southern Africa is very rich and varied. Over 800 species have already been recorded and there is no doubt that many more await discovery. Unfortunately the records and descriptions of the known species are scattered through more than 50 papers. There is thus an urgent need for a monograph not only as an aid for further taxonomic work but also for the rapid identification of common species for ecological and physiological studies.
This monograph covers "southern Africa", here defined as the subcontinent south of the twentieth parallel and extending from the northern parts of South West Africa around the Cape of Good Hope to the port of Beira in Mocambique. For good measure the faunae of .Angola and Madagascar are included too but as these regions are poorly explored it is unlikely that the treatment given here is adequate. The coverage of planktonic species is good for most of the species known from the world oceans have been found in samples as widely distributed as Angola, the southern tip of the Agulhas Bank and Nosy Be in northern Madagascar. The depth range of benthonic species includes shore forms from coasts and estuaries to dredged forms from the edge of the continental shelf In general this is about 200 metres but there are also a few scattered records from greater depths, some exceeding 3000 metres. Undoubtedly many more species remain to be described from these deeper levels of the continental slope.
The main purpose of this monograph is to provide an adequate description of all the species of polychaetes known from this area with keys for rapid identification. […]